--- /dev/null
+return async env => {
+ let blog_post = await _require('/_lib/blog_post.jst')
+
+ await blog_post(
+ env,
+ // head
+ async _out => {},
+ // body
+ async _out => {
+ p.mt-3 {
+ 'And now for the rather belated update in which I detail the first week of homeschooling, what we studied, what the kids had trouble with, what I learned from the process, and some samples of the teaching materials and kids’ work.'
+ }
+
+ h4 {'Before beginning—an aside'}
+
+ p {
+ 'I first have to admit that things have become slightly less formal since I last wrote. Owing to a trip I took which was rather tiring (even though we didn’t miss any of the homeschool time I had committed to) and some involved technical projects that led to me staying up late every night this week, I had to simply do the best I could in the mornings even though I wasn’t feeling the best.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Therefore, in the second week the alternation between food and play breaks has become more chaotic, the length of the playtime between periods has become less regular, and the schedule has generally slipped throughout the morning such that there are only about 5 periods rather than 6. The children also had their good days and bad days and I didn’t push them as hard on the latter.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Based on this, and the fact that it has taken nearly a week to find time to transcribe my teaching notes into this blog post, I expect that I might struggle to produce regular weekly reports containing the curriculum (originally it was going to be every day, which would be even more impossible). So if you '
+ i {
+ 'were'
+ }
+ ' planning to follow along, then be sure to tell me via the '
+ a(href="/contact/index.html") {
+ 'contact page'
+ }
+ '.'
+ }
+
+ h4 {'Back to our regular programming...'}
+
+ p {
+ 'So here is the summary of the activities undertaken in each period, and my comments:'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ div.rowN.rowN-header {
+ div.colN.col7 {}
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 1'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 2'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 3'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 4'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 5'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Period 6'}
+ }
+ }
+ div.rowN {
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Mon 31/01'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 1: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Counting out groups of 10 chips (we made about 13–14 groups, some errors).'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Arranging the groups of 10 into rectangles: 2 × 10, 4 × 10, etc.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Discussion: Four tens means forty, etc.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Groups of 10 plus odd amounts: 77, 53, 21, etc.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 2: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Rectangles: 3 x 7 = 21, 3 x 5 = 15, 2 x 6 = 12, 4 x 6 = 23??'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Kids were getting tired—fruit break.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 3: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'They were struggling to concentrate on numeracy, so we did some writing instead.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Start by writing out the alphabet, they did well. A(5) was faster.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Then writing simple words: hat fox etc. They wanted to draw pictures for some of the words.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'And some names: A..., C..., etc. C(4) sometimes writes in mirror image.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 4: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Making rectangles: 3 × 7 etc.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Huge rectangle: 22 x 7 (= 154).'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Division: How many rows can you make?'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Adding and subtracting: I had 7 pooey nappies, I threw away 2. How many were left?'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 5: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Just having fun with words and letters, they were being quite silly. Lots of potty humour.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) wrote: LEGOPOLICEICARPOOEYNAPPYHOSEPOOPYPOOPOTTYGHOST.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'C(4) wrote: LEGO HOUSE POOEY H '
+ del {'M'}
+ 'N'
+ del {'OO'}
+ 'APPY POO POOPY OP HOUSE.'
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ div.rowN {
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Tue 01/02'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 1: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Learn about carrying: 23 + 28 = 51, rearrange a group of 11 to 10 + 1.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Make 10 x 10 square, review the names of the tens (10, 20, 30, 40, ...).'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 2: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Write out the alphabet again.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Free choice: bumbim etc.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 3: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) wanted some reading practice.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We wrote out some 3 and 4 letter words, and practiced sounding them out.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) then annotated them with pictures to help him remember.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'C(4) wasn’t as good at this and did some drawing by himself.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 4: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Subtraction puzzles: Count out this many, take away this many, how many left?'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Addition puzzles: Count out this many and this many, how many total?'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Multiplication puzzles: make this many groups of this many, how many total?'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Familiarization with writing in decimal system and + − × operators.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Kids were visibly fatigued after this exercise—break to play.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.'col7-2'.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 5 and 6: '}
+ 'Science.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Last hour was spent in the park looking for bugs.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'It is kept immaculately by council contractors, so it was a bit of a sterile environment.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'With some effort we found and photographed ants, pill bugs, a spider, also some animals and fungi.'
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ div.rowN {
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Wed 02/02'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 1: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) has 42, C(4) has 18, how many total? Move 2 + 8 to become 10.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Kids were able to count out correct number of chips (42, 18). It was hard for them to read back how many they have and how many total.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Kids were quite unsure and this made them sad, grumpy, and unenthusiastic. Long faces but with some prompting they came to the right answers.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'They do not like the exercises involving digits written on the paper.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 2: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Single digit sums (avoid written and groups of ten as they are tired).'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Free play by making rectangles like 3 × 7 = 21 and counting the total.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 3: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Write out alphabet as usual. A few false starts as I didn’t initially list out the letters for them to follow along.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'C(4) wrote his in mirror image, interesting.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Introduction to cursive. With some effort A(5) has written his name in cursive, C(4) to do next.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 4: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'More cursive.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 5: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Writing sentences: LEGO HOUSE, LEGO FOX, BIM BOM BUM etc.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Finish slightly earlier, as kids were exhausted.'
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ div.rowN {
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Thu 03/02'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 1: '}
+ 'Numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Create 5 rows of 10 each, identify number (50), move around to create different multiples of 10, identify again.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Addition and subtraction exercises, firstly without carry, then with carry.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Kids really struggled to get the idea of carrying—exercise takes a long time, and by the end they have forgotten all steps they did. Needs practice.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 2: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'I ruled a number of sheets for cursive handwriting practice.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Initially I tried to show them each letter and guide their hand to the shape (while sitting behind them).'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'This was too slow, so I wrote out several alphabets for them to write over. They did this successfully.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 3: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'I then had them copy their alphabets onto fresh lines without tracing them.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 4: '}
+ 'Literacy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Writing sentences: RED BIRDIE, LEGO FOX, LEGO POLICE CAR.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Sounding out: RED, HAT.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'C(4) often writes letters in mirror image and will sometimes write words right-to-left.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'When copying A(5)’s sentence, C(4) often copies from last letter to first letter. Need to work on the sequential aspect more; A(5) mostly gets it right.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Silly time: Drawing bubbles with different letters in each bubble.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 5: '}
+ 'Media.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'The kids really like watching Lego videos on YouTube (stop-motion or computer animated). So we did a quick experiment with stop motion.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We bought a hot glue gun from the local store, which was nice for a bit of exercise as the kids had worked hard at their tasks.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We then glued a playfield to the table, and made a woman walk across the playfield. We could view our animation on the camera screen with its browsing functionality.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'The kids did not want to stop at 12pm!'
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ div.rowN {
+ div.colN.col7.colN-header {
+ b {'Fri 04/02'}
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 1: '}
+ 'Media—set up.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We are not doing numeracy and literacy today. As a reward for their hard work I had promised them that on the last day of the week we would make stop-motion Lego.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We glued a new larger playfield to the table, as my wife had observed our activities the previous day and gone out to buy a large Lego square.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We glued the table and the tripod to the floor, to try to minimize movement between frames.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'The children initially did not get the idea of small movements between frames. I demonstrated with a merry-go-round in the middle of the playfield. In about 8 frames I moved it 90 degrees.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'As we started to take photos, the sun came out, and was much too bright.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 2: '}
+ 'Media—sharks.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We moved the setup away from the window, over to the normal spot near the couch.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We added the kids bedside light (a bright LED lamp with an arm) for lighting.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'We moved the sharks one or two bumps at a time, and we made the sharks turn around in the middle. C(4) took the photos (fair bit of camera shake).'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 3: '}
+ 'Media—high five.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We put men on either sides of a room facing each other. We made the men walk towards each other, and do a high five when they meet.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'One turns around, and they walk off together. A door opens, and they exit and walk out of view.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) understands that they must move one step at a time. So far they do not get the idea of internal animation (making the legs and arms move).'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'C(4) does not really understand the concept well or why the camera, table or playfield is not allowed to move between frames. He will get it by example.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'C(4) gets bored while taking the photos and starts to act silly, we will let C(4) move them later (and explain animation) while A(5) takes photos.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 4: '}
+ 'Media—tank battle.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We cleared off the playfield to just the play table and light, and zoomed out.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'A(5) set up 2 teams of 2 opposing tanks. They jockeyed a bit and then two tanks on right got blown up frame by frame. The two tanks on left then turned around and drove off to the left.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'He gets it quite well, so it looked like proper stop motion except for minor mistakes, such as hands to the edge of some of the frames and so on.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'C(4) bumped the table slightly in the middle, but it did not affect things.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'A few times I had to remind A(5) to make smaller movements between frames.'
+ }
+ }
+ div.colN.col7.colN-data {
+ p {
+ b.'d-2xl-none' {'Period 5: '}
+ 'Media—water scene.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'The two men on the right are spinning to begin with. Then C(4) constructs some gates towards the back left.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'I ask him to move the men to the cockpit of the boat and we pan/zoom to them. He constructs some more gates at the back.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'He constructs a large pile of rubble. The men turn towards the rubble. The rubble recedes and now there is rubble over to the right.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'We zoom out and pan to the right. The men turn again to look at the new rubble.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'As C(4) does not really get the concept of stop motion it was easier to simply let him play and take photos at regular intervals, hence it has hands in the frame.'
+ }
+
+ p.mb-0 {
+ 'Later I will take some videos of him playing the scene and have him talk for the video. This is another recognized video style, and will be easier than stop motion until he gets the concept better.'
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'As can be seen from the table, we covered a fair bit of ground in the first week. Although one day of practice is not enough for them to get advanced mathematical concepts, after a week of repetition they are much more confident. Similarly, the literacy.'
+ }
+
+ h4 {'A look at what we did'}
+
+ p {
+ 'I also filed all their work and the materials I had prepared during the session, as well as taking occasional photos. So I will be in a good position if social services comes snooping around, as they surely will eventually.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Next week I’ll scan some of their writing for the blog. Also, I will present scans and/or photos with a better web design using a carousel plugin or similar. For now, it’s easiest just to dump a few photos to give an idea:'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2252.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2252.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2257.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2257.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2263.jpg") {
+ img(width=512 height=768 src="down_2263.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2265.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2265.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2267.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2267.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2275.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2275.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2288.jpg") {
+ img(width=768 height=512 src="down_2288.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ p {
+ a(href="down_2306.jpg") {
+ img(width=256 height=171 src="down_2306.jpg") {}
+ }
+
+ a(href="down_2307.jpg") {
+ img(width=256 height=171 src="down_2307.jpg") {}
+ }
+
+ a(href="down_2308.jpg") {
+ img(width=256 height=171 src="down_2308.jpg") {}
+ }
+ }
+
+ h4 {'Saving the best for last'}
+
+ p {
+ 'And finally, after some pretty extensive post-production which will be detailed elsewhere when I have time, I would like to present the children’s stop-motion media creations, that we made on the Friday as a reward for their hard work.'
+ }
+
+ h5 {'Sharks—by all'}
+
+ p {
+ video(width=768 controls src="https://cdn.proxsystec.com/videos/sharks.mp4") {
+ 'Your browser does not support the HTML5 Video element.'
+ }
+ }
+
+ h5 {'High five—by all'}
+
+ p {
+ video(width=768 controls src="https://cdn.proxsystec.com/videos/high_five.mp4") {
+ 'Your browser does not support the HTML5 Video element.'
+ }
+ }
+
+ h5 {'Tank battle—by A(5)'}
+
+ p {
+ video(width=768 controls src="https://cdn.proxsystec.com/videos/tank_battle.mp4") {
+ 'Your browser does not support the HTML5 Video element.'
+ }
+ }
+
+ h5 {'Water scene—by C(4)'}
+
+ p {
+ video(width=768 controls src="https://cdn.proxsystec.com/videos/water_scene.mp4") {
+ 'Your browser does not support the HTML5 Video element.'
+ }
+ }
+
+ h4 {'Conclusions'}
+
+ p {
+ 'Overall I am satisfied with the decision to homeschool and the progress that has been made in just one week. Indeed I have found it surprising just how much progress has been made in the key areas of literacy and numeracy.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'I credit this progress to the fact that young children are quite simply a sponge at this age. If I had a dollar for each ‘why’ this week... It is a beautiful age, and I am happy I am here to enjoy the children’s journey with them.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'I am fortunate to not be locked up in a stuffy cubicle whilst my children have indoctrination sessions courtesy of a competing authority figure—but don’t get me wrong, I have done my time, and worked hard to be here.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Stop-motion video turns out to be more challenging than you would think. We learned quite a bit, and would be in a position to make much better videos next time—with more control over lighting, depth of field, camera shake and so on.'
+ }
+
+ p {
+ 'Reflecting on the decision to blog about this, I realize that you often under-estimate the work you have done (in preparing and teaching the lessons in this case), until you see it all laid out before you. So it is quite satisfying to see the first week documented.'
+ }
+ },
+ // scripts
+ async _out => {}
+ )
+}
public / nick_site.git / commitdiff
